World

Witnesses recount California bar shooting horror

People comfort each other as they sit near the scene Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. where a gunman opened fire Wednesday inside a country dance bar crowded with hundreds of people on "college night," wounding 11 people including a deputy who rushed to the scene. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Stories of fear, terror and heroism are emerging from the southern California bar where a gunman opened fire Wednesday night.

Thirteen people were killed in the shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif., including the gunman and the first police officer to respond to the scene.

‘I … found kids everywhere’

Sarah Silikula lives near the bar – close enough that she can hear its music. Late Wednesday night, she heard the music stop.

“I didn’t hear any shots but I did hear the screaming,” Silikula told CTV News Channel on Thursday.

Silikula said she heard the sirens of emergency vehicles two or three minutes later, then received a call from her daughter warning her that there had been a shooting.

Her daughter said she hadn’t been at the bar, but a friend of hers had and was hiding in the bathroom. Silikula rushed outside to see what was happening.

“I came down and just found kids everywhere – hiding behind trees, behind bushes, behind cars, in shock, bleeding, carrying people who had been shot,” she said.

‘He was shooting everything’

Kayla Simmons told CNN she was inside the bar with friends when she heard shots and saw smoke.

“He was shooting everything from the speakers to anything,” she said.

“We just tried to get down as fast as we could and get out of there.”

Simmons said she heard the man firing “18 to 20 rounds at a time.”

‘He knew what he was doing’

Tayler Whitler said she was on the dance floor when she heard people yelling “get down.” She said she saw the gunman reload his weapon before she escaped.

“He [reloaded] in about six seconds, which is really fast, so he knew what he was doing,” she told reporters.

"The shots kept going and going and going." Terrifying accounts coming out of shooting at bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif. @wusa9 Multiple people are dead, including the shooter pic.twitter.com/NOoEiZ7PiX

Related Stories

Photos

People comfort each other as they sit near the scene Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. where a gunman opened fire Wednesday inside a country dance bar crowded with hundreds of people on "college night," wounding 11 people including a deputy who rushed to the scene. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

An FBI agent talks to a potential witness as they stand near the scene Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)